The Diaries of Brendan T
by Anony84
Summary: Brendan T didn't die when we started a new game. After shaking off the voices, he moved in just as planned, and a few days later, a girl—A—moved in next door. Now she's under the voices' control, and it's up to T to find a way to set her free.
1. Chapter 1

I had just finished unpacking when my mom called me downstairs to meet our new neighbors.

We'd gone through the whole routine of introducing ourselves a few days before, when we'd first moved in. The house next door had been vacant at the time, but according to my mom, a moving van had just pulled up. I guess they wanted to take advantage of the nice weather like we did.

"Very nice to meet you!" the woman said. "And what's your name?"

Before my mom could give my full name, I responded with the initial I preferred to go by. "T. Just call me T, if you don't mind."

"Oh? T, is it? How unique. You know, my daughter also goes by one of her initials." She turned to the staircase. "A, could you come down here?"

As soon as the girl stepped into view, I knew something was wrong. Her body was shaking, and she had a look of pure horror on her face. Neither of our moms seemed to notice.

"T here is around your age, A. Why don't you two get acquainted while the two of us talk?"

I stood and approached her, tuning our parents' babbling out. The girllooked at me as if crying out for help. I knew that look. I knew the feeling. Cautiously, I reached a hand out toward her shoulder. "You hear them, don't you?"

She recoiled and headed back upstairs, no doubt to wander aimlessly around her room. The same thing had happened to me when we first arrived, but it had only lasted a few minutes. Afterward, my mom had had no idea what I was talking about. She still insists I hadn't been acting unusual in the slightest. But I know the truth. I'd heard voices, clear as day, telling me what to do. Controlling me. Even if it only lasted a few minutes, it was pure hell. And assuming this girl also began hearing the voices the moment she got to Littleroot, they'd been controlling her for at least an hour now.

A. Why haven't they let you go yet? Are you not able to shake them off? What difference is there between you and I that they would hold on to you for this long? I don't know, but I'll do everything I can to help you. It has to be subtlebut I won't let them control you forever.

Just hang in there a little bit longer.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't understand what's going on.

After meeting A, I went back to my room and watched from my window as she spent hours wandering around the town. She was going in circles, running into buildings, all the same stuff I did when the voices were in my head. But just as it was with me, no one seemed to notice. Occasionally she'd stop and stand in front of someone, and they'd actually talk to her, as if she said something to prompt them. From what I could tell, her mouth never actually opened. Is that what I was like? 

* * *

I don't believe it. Somehow, A managed to talk my dad into giving her a pokémon. Or, I guess I should say, she stared at him long enough to make him think they were having a conversation. And what's worse, it's a torchic. Even a weak fire-type like torchic could burn down half of Hoenn if it fell into the wrong hands. What do the voices want with a pokémon like that?

I tried challenging her to a battle, thinking maybe if I defeated her, the voices would get frustrated. Maybe if they thought she was too weak, they'd leave her alone.

In the end, she was a lot more coherent than I'd expected. She actually beat me.

And it's weird. I distinctly remember the voices being chaotic and indistinguishable from one another when they were in my head, but during our battle, it was like they banded together and actually focused on the task at hand. Her commands didn't really make sense, but she did give them, and she gave them consistently. I tried talking to her, but she didn't seem to hear me.

Afterward, I fed her some garbage about how great she was—gotta make sure the voices think they've got me fooled, after all—and walked her back to my dad's lab. I was hoping he might change his mind about letting her keep the torchic. Instead, he gave her a Pokédex. A Pokédex. I think it's safe to say that I'm the only one who can see her erratic behavior. Maybe it's because I've heard the voices, too. I can't really be sure.

Then, before I realized what I was doing, I'd given her all my spare pokéballs. I'd felt this inexplicable urge to help her out any way I could, and my body just moved on its own. Afterward, I just stood there, stunned, and watched her gradually make her way out of the lab.

I thought I was immune to the voices' influence.

I'm not.


	3. Chapter 3

The more I watch her, the less I understand.

After A left the lab, I followed her outside. Her progress is slow—painfully so, but over the past few hours, she somehow made it to Petalburg, where her dad serves as gym leader.

I'm more interested in her journey along the way. She's run into a lot of battles, both wild and other trainers, and while she seems capable of holding her own most of the time, she's had to hurry back to the Pokémon Center once or twice.

That's where things get interesting. The voices seem to have complete control over her body most of the time, and there's nothing she can do to fight it. I'm all too aware of how it feels. But when her torchic—still the only pokémon in her possession, thankfully—faints, it's like she becomes a different person. Suddenly, she's completely coordinated and full of purpose; the way she runs back to the nearest Pokémon Center... it's nothing like her usual movements.

I've tried to take advantage of this. Since leaving Littleroot, I've only let her see me once, during one of her emergency runs to heal her torchic. I called out to her, but she just ignored me and kept running. The panic in her face was apparent, though, and I just can't believe the voices would have that kind of concern for a pokémon.

A—the real A—is still in there.

For now, I'm operating under the hypothesis that the voices only retain full control so long as she has a conscious pokémon in her possession. I know it's not the best theory, considering she didn't have one until my dad gave her the torchic, but it's the only way I can explain it so far.

There was one other abnormality. A boy, Wally I think, asked her for help. Together, they actually captured a wild ralts. A didn't say a word, just like before, but Wally carried out his one-sided conversation without hesitation. I don't yet know what this means. My best bet would be to talk to Wally, maybe ask him what she "said", but I lost track of him somewhere in Petalburg. For a guy with green hair, he's pretty quick to disappear.

For the time being, I'm going to watch her roam around Petalburg from a distance. It seems she can only manipulate people at close-range, so it's safest if I keep out of sight. Maybe I'll try and find another pokémon that can resist her torchic's attacks. Defeating her in battle is still my only idea; if that provocation doesn't work, I'll just have to come up with another plan. Surely someone has to know _something_, right?

Though I have to wonder. If the voices do decide she's too weak, will they leave us alone for good?

Or will they choose me again?


	4. Chapter 4

((Side Note: Generations I and III take place around the same time. Generations II and IV take place a few years later. Therefore, A's ordeal technically occurs before AJ's.))

* * *

I think the voices are starting to get frustrated.

That's what it looks like, anyway. A made it to Rustboro City, and despite multiple attempts to beat Roxanne, she keeps walking away empty-handed. I guess a gym leader is just too much for them to handle.

What's amazing, though, is the fact that she's actually managed to catch a few pokémon under their guidance. A nincada, a poochyena, and an abra. An _abra_. Even I've never been able to capture one of those, and I'm the son of a professor. I don't even want to imagine the kind of chaos she could cause with a blaziken and an alakazam.

Luckily, I was able to find a trainer in Rustboro who was willing to trade me his slugma for a spare wurmple I caught. Fire resists fire, so I should be able to hold my own against her torchic next time around. It seems like she's focusing on making it as strong as possible, which worries me. At least it hasn't evolved yet.

Still, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. A hasn't slept since leaving Littleroot, and while the voices seem to be able to keep her going 24/7, I'm completely exhausted. The sun will be rising in a few hours, and she's still not showing any signs of slowing down. A... what's it like for you? Are you aware of what's happening? There's really no way to tell whether or not you're actually conscious in your own body anymore, but if you are, I can't imagine what this must be like for you. I wish I could help you more directly, but there's no telling what the voices might do if they found out.

I want to meet you. The real you.

My best bet is to get my old friend Mr. Briney to take her to Dewford Town. His ship is the only way to get to and from the island; if I ask him to call me when she's ready to leave, there'll be no way for us to lose track of her. With any luck, she'll be on the island long enough for me to catch up on sleep.

It's not all bad news, though. I do have one lead. Apparently, a trainer in Kanto recently went through a similar ordeal, and was somehow able to escape the voices. Nobody else really believes him, but of course I do. If he could break free from their influence on his own, surely he can help me free A, right?

But I wonder... After being subjected to the voices for so long, what's this person going to be like? What kind of mental state will he be in?

At any rate, I'm going to talk to Mr. Briney. Assuming he's willing to play along, I'll see if I can casually convince the voices to go talk to him.


	5. Chapter 5

My plan worked.

I finally got a chance to casually bump into A and challenge her to a battle. Unfortunately, she's gotten a lot stronger since last time; her torchic was able to take out both of my pokemon in a matter of seconds. Despite their chaotic nature, the voices do seem to know a thing or two about raising pokémon. Instead of discouraging them, I ended up boosting their collective ego.

Regardless, my planning paid off. Mr. Briney gave me a call not long after that to tell me they were on his ship, sailing toward Dewford Town. After over 24 hours of monitoring A, I was finally able to get some rest.

I was woken up a few hours later by the sound of my PokéNav going off. It was my dad, telling me to head to the nearest Pokémon Center to accept a call. I'd asked him earlier if he could get me in touch with a renowned pokémon trainer from Kanto named Red. He'd been hesitant, but I guess the message I gave him was enough to catch his interest.

"I need your help with some voices."

I wasn't sure why my dad hadn't just given him my PokéNav number, but that wasn't important. I hurried back to the Rustboro Pokémon Center and signed on to one of the video phones.

The call came through almost immediately. On the other end was a boy, probably around my age, with dark hair and his signature bright red hat.

Red. One of the most talked-about prodigies in recent history, having become champion less than a month after receiving his first Pokémon. If the situation hadn't been so grave, I would have been ecstatic at having the opportunity to talk to a legend like him.

He didn't speak. Instead, he held up a spiral notebook. In black marker, he'd written,

"Do you hear the voices?"

I wasn't sure how to react. He wasn't mute, was he? Nobody had mentioned that. "Do you not have a microphone?"

He flinched, then quickly turned to the next page and scribbled another message.

"Don't like voices. Please write if you can."

Another detail my dad could have mentioned. I pulled a notebook and a pen out of my bag and wrote him a response.

"Sorry. I heard the voices for a few minutes, but it stopped. Now my neighbor is hearing them. Can you help?"

His face didn't betray a lot of emotion, but his eyebrows did perk up a little at that. A moment later, he held up, "Why did they leave you? And how long has she been hearing them?"

"I don't know why. For me, it was only a few minutes, but for her, it's been over a day. How did you get rid of them?"

He looked down for a moment, the bill of his hat hiding his face from view.

"I became the best."

I started to ask him what he meant, but he was already writing another message.

"I don't know how you escaped so easily, but they didn't leave me until I became champion. Maybe that will work for her. That's all I know."

Red stood and started to walk away, but turned back to scribble one last message, almost as an afterthought.

"Try to find a fossil."


	6. Chapter 6

A returned from Dewford Town with her second badge.

I'm no longer surprised by the voices' ability to coordinate during battle. Rather, I'm concerned with how strong her pokémon appear to have become. But if what Red said is true, maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.

At any rate, it's clear that I can't defeat her in a one-on-one battle. The new plan is to follow Red's last bit of advice and track down a fossil. Or rather, have A track one down on her own. Assuming the voices controlling A are the same ones that had control of Red, giving her a fossil directly might make them suspect that I'm aware of the situation.

Instead, I got my hands on an Itemfinder. With any luck, she might be able to find one on her own. If that doesn't work, I could always track one down and hide in somewhere nearby. To be honest, I'm not sure how a fossil is supposed to help, but then, nothing about this situation made any sense to begin with.

* * *

It happened again. My plan was to bump into A on route 110 and give her the Itemfinder, but I got this... uncontrollable urge to battle her. No, it's not quite that simple. It was like I wasn't in charge of my body anymore, and at the same time, I really wanted to test her strength. I lost once again, and afterward, the voices let me go. I gave her the Itemfinder, and we parted ways.

It was terrifying.

I don't want to go near her anymore. If I do, the voices can just take control of me, too. They made me give them my spare pokéballs, and just now, they made me battle them. Have they just come to expect it?

But there is some good news, if you can even call it that. During the battle, A spoke to me.

It was a bit hard to understand, but I'm sure I heard her utter "Help me" through gritted teeth. Not just once, but several times during the battle. She had the same frantic expression on her face as always, but there was more desperation in it this time. The voices may not need to sleep, but her body still does. The bags under her eyes are proof of that.

I wanted nothing more than to tell her "Okay," to reassure her that I _am_ helping her, slowly but surely. But I can't. The voices expect people to ignore what's happening to her, and if I become the exception, they may decide I'm too much of a threat to keep around. If that were to happen, there'd be nobody left to save her.

For her sake, I had to act like I couldn't hear her.

I'm sorry, A. If I was more brave, I might be able to offer you some kind of reassurance. I promise you, you're not alone. You have at least one ally.

You're just not allowed to know it.


End file.
